Milestones for Menlo
at the state level

Shine earns 400th career win while his girls tennis
team takes a shot at 200 consecutive league victories

It will be quite a week of milestones for the Menlo School girls tennis team and its coach, Bill Shine, should the Knights continue their winning ways as expected.

On Tuesday, the Knights opened their West Bay Athletic League (Foothill Division) season with a routine 7-0 blanking of visiting Crystal Springs.

While the victory moved the Knights to 10-1 this season, it also marked the 400th triumph of Shine's career with Menlo, now in its 18th season. The 59-year-old Shine is now 400-74. He is only one of two girls' coaches in state history to have at least 400 career wins. The leader, according to the CalHiSports.com state record book is the late Robbin Adair, who had 484 for Coronado from 1967-2006.

Adair retired in 2007 and passed away in 2012 at age 67.

Menlo, meanwhile, won its 199th straight league dual match. The Knights went after their 200th straight on Thursday against visiting Harker. No girls team in the state of California has ever won 200 consecutive league matches. The state record for the boys is 204, also held by Menlo.

"It's nice," Shine said of the 400th win, which he will rank behind the 200th straight league win this week.

"Two hundred is more important because all it takes is a hiccup, a few girls getting sick or injured to end it. The 400 (wins) is just longevity; you'll eventually get there if you're running a decent program."

The Knights, of course, have been good for a long time. The league win streak started in 1994 and since has grown into a state record for most consecutive league dual victories, according to CalHiSports.com.

Menlo actually surpassed the previous state record of 191 — by Garces High (Bakersfield) from 1980-1998 — last season with its 192nd straight, against Harker. This season the Knights are merely adding to their total.

Should Menlo reach the 200th plateau against Harker, it will be significant as the Knights will match a number compiled by the Gunn boys' program that won 200 straight overall matches from 1969-79, setting a national record at that time. That total remains as the state record.

In Tuesday's win, Menlo lost only seven games total in singles as junior Liz Yao, senior Christine Eliazo, freshman Alice Yao and junior Allie Miller all won easily in straight sets. Menlo's doubles teams lost only nine games total.

In another WBAL Foothill Division match, Castilleja opened league play with a 6-1 win over Notre Dame-San Jose at Rinconada Park. Paulette Wolak dropped the No. 1 singles match for Castilleja, but her teammates swept the rest in straight sets. April Chien, Celeste Woloshyn and Rosie Crisman combined to lose only 10 games in singles.

Also in the WBAL, visiting Sacred Heart Prep dropped a tough 4-3 decision to Harker as the Gators (0-1, 4-4) were swept in singles.

In the PAL Bay Division, defending champ Menlo-Atherton fell further out of the title picture following a 6-1 loss to visiting Carlmont. The Scots moved to 5-0 in league (7-0 overall) while the Bears dropped to 3-3 (5-8).

In the SCVAL De Anza Division, Palo Alto kept its perfect season intact with a 6-1 triumph over visiting Los Gatos in SCVAL De Anza Division action Wednesday. The Vikings were 5-0 in league (12-0 overall) heading into a match Thursday at defending Central Coast Section champ Monta Vista.

Senior Aashli Budhiraja once again led the Vikings with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles. Felicia Wang (6-2, 6-1) and Avanika Narayan (6-2, 6-1) followed suit at No. 2 and 3 singles. Paly swept the doubles, even though the No. 1 tandem of Caroline Nore and Sam Dewees had to battle for a 7-6 (10-8), 6-7 (7-9), 10-6 victory. Last year after 12 matches, Paly was 8-4.

Palo Alto started the week with a 5-2 victory over visiting Lynbrook.

Elsewhere in the De Anza Division, Gunn dropped a 5-2 decision to host Los Altos and fell to 1-4 in league (1-7 overall).

Girls golf

Castilleja remained atop the WBAL Foothill Division standings following a 206-246 victory over host Notre Dame-San Jose at windy San Jose Muni.

"The roster continues to evolve in an effort to get as many team members as possible into the matches," said Castilleja first-year coach Donn S. Levine.

In the SCVAL, Gunn remained unbeaten and atop the standings with a 201-386 win over Wilcox at the Santa Clara Golf Club. The Titans (8-0, 9-0) won their 18th straight league match as senior Jayshree Sarathy and junior Anna Zhou led the way with matching 1-under-par rounds of 35. Sandra Herchen and Lianna McFarlane-Connelly each shot 43

while Tiffany Yang finished with a 45.

On Wednesday, Menlo School's Jessie Rong earned medalist honors with a 4-over 38 as the Knights posted a 220-278 victory over Mercy-Burlingame in WBAL at Palo Alto Muni. Lauren Yang shot 40, Nicole Henderson and Christina Schwab each had 47s and Erin Broderick shot 48. The Knights improved to 2-3 overall and in the WBAL.

Girls volleyball

On the heels of a monumental week where Menlo defeated nationally ranked Sacred Heart Cathedral and Valley Christian, the Knights continued their standout play by defeating host Castilleja, 25-17, 25-22, 25-15, in a WBAL Foothill Division opener on Tuesday.

In San Francisco, Priory lost a hard-fought match to host Mercy-San Francisco, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 25-11, in WBAL Foothill Division action. The Panthers (0-1, 13-3) created plenty of opportunities defensively with 71 team digs, but weren't able to capitalize.

Offensively, Priory was led by Marine Hall-Poirier and Jane Ross with 18 and nine kills, respectively. Hall-Poirier also had 33 digs and five aces. Freshmen Nadia Faisal and Daniela Vivacno put in solid performances in their WBAL league debuts.

In the PAL Bay Division, defending champion Menlo-Atherton remained atop the standings with a 25-14, 25-14, 25-22 win over visiting South San Francisco. The Bears (3-0, 9-3) got 24 digs and 12 kills from senior Pauli King, nine kills and seven digs from junior Ally Ostrow, and 24 assists from freshman Kirby Knapp.

In the SCVAL De Anza Division, Gunn suffered its first league setback of the season while falling to visiting Los Altos, 25-19, 25-19, 25-22. The Titans (2-1, 6-7) were led by Meghan Mahoney's 10 kills.

This story contains 1188 words.

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